Why do Babies pull on their ears?

Ange - posted on 03/31/2011
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10 moms have responded
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My son is pulling on his ears now which is a new thing he has started in the last couple days... Some people say that means they are tired but that is not the sign for my son to be tired... so what else could it be if anything at all

Honestly where it may in some cases just be teething or discovering their ears, I strongly recommend a visit to the doctor, my daughter had no symptoms whatsoever just pulling her ear. On the 5th night she woke screaming in pain and we were told by an out of hours GP that she had an ear infection and it had got that bad that it had reached it's peak and burst so you can imagine what pain she must have been in and we were putting it down to teething. :-( After a course of antibiotics she is fighting fit again thank God.

Babies don't know how to localize their pain. Many times, their teeth are hurting, but they pull on their ears because they can't figure out how to stop the pain of their gums. Or so my doctor told me.However, excessive pulling on the ears CAN mean an ear infection.

10 Comments

One of my twins does that too - she doesn't so much pull on her ears as she sticks her thumb in her ear, she doesn't seem to be in any pain and she isn't crying but I do intent to have the Doc look in two weeks when they have their 9month appt

my lil girl is teethin at the min and every now and then she will pull her ear n sometimes even stick her thumb in her er i was at docs she didnt say she had anysign of ear infection and my mam said she heard before it was to do with teething but maybe if your lo is at their ear alot it could be a sign of ear infection. . .